NIQ Debuts Growth Pathways: Transforming How Brands Create Growth

In today's shifting consumer landscape, where global CPG volume growth has stagnated at under 1% annually, brand marketers need clarity on where to source demand, which opportunities matter most, and how to focus resources that will accelerate penetration and strengthen brand preference. Traditional strategies no longer meet the needs of today's environment, as consumer behavior evolves and market dynamics grow increasingly complex.

NIQ's Growth Pathways creates a growth relevant roadmap relevant for your brand and your market context, by linking your current performance reality – your actual sales performance, with consumer insights and future performance projections, into an expedited and actionable roadmap to achieve market growth. Fast AI enabled qualitative research at scale reveals the real, lived human Jobs to Be Done and behavioral context that sit behind category and brand choice. This provides an accurate starting point for sizing and prioritizing the high-value strategic spaces where your brand has the right-to-play. This all comes together as a strategic playbook for either category, or brand growth, or both.

“When brands look beyond familiar boundaries and consider the full range of choices consumers actually weigh in and beyond your category, new growth possibilities come into view,” said Stacy Bereck, NIQ Global Practice Leader.“Growth Pathways helps teams notice opportunities in places they may not have explored previously, which inspires new ways of thinking about growth. As brands innovate and enter new spaces, they can energize the entire category.”

The launch of Growth Pathways reflects NIQ's ongoing transformation and commitment to delivering AI-enabled, open-data, client-first solutions. With more than 23,000 clients across 90+ countries, 22.2M store coverage, 220M product categories and collaboration programs across more than 50 retailers worldwide, NIQ continues to build a faster, smarter, and more connected insights ecosystem-empowering leaders with predictive intelligence that fuels growth across the global marketplace.

“More than ever before, companies need to make fewer but bigger brand bets in order to grow, and those bets must be consumer driven, evidence-based, and scalable,” said Gillian O'Sullivan, NIQ Global Sub-Practice Leader.“Growth Pathways takes validated marketing methods and applies them in a structured scientific KPI framework to determine the right pathway to sizeable and sustainable brand growth.”

To explore NIQ Growth Pathways or request a demo, click here.

FAQs

1. What is NIQ Growth Pathways?

NIQ Growth Pathways is an AI-enabled consumer insights and analytics solution that helps brands identify, prioritize, and activate new sources of growth. It combines consumer research, retail measurement data, and advanced analytics to deliver a structured growth strategy for brands and categories.

2. What does NIQ Growth Pathways do?

NIQ Growth Pathways helps companies:

Identify untapped growth opportunities

Understand consumer behavior (what consumers think, feel, and do)

Prioritize high-value demand spaces

Build actionable growth strategies based on data

It translates complex data into clear, decision-ready growth pathways.

3. How does NIQ Growth Pathways use AI?

NIQ Growth Pathways uses AI to scale qualitative research and uncover deep consumer insights, including motivations, unmet needs, and“Jobs to Be Done.” AI accelerates insight generation, improves accuracy, and enables faster identification of growth opportunities.

4. What makes NIQ Growth Pathways different from traditional market research?

Unlike traditional market research, NIQ Growth Pathways:

Integrates qualitative insights, quantitative data, and sales performance

Connects past performance with future growth projections

Uses AI to analyze consumer behavior at scale

Delivers a structured, actionable growth roadmap instead of static reports

5. What problem does NIQ Growth Pathways solve for brands?

NIQ Growth Pathways helps brands solve the problem of low growth and unclear demand signals in modern markets. With global CPG growth under 1%, brands need better tools to identify where to grow, how to win, and which investments will deliver the highest return.

6. Who should use NIQ Growth Pathways?

NIQ Growth Pathways is designed for:

Brand managers

Marketing leaders

Consumer insights teams

Strategy and innovation teams

It is especially useful for organizations making large, strategic, data-driven growth decisions.

7. What industries can use NIQ Growth Pathways?

NIQ Growth Pathways is primarily built for FMCG and CPG companies but can be applied to any consumer-focused industry that relies on understanding buying behavior, demand drivers, and market dynamics.

8. What are“growth pathways” in NIQ Growth Pathways?

“Growth pathways” are data-driven, prioritized routes to growth. They are based on:

Current brand and category performance

Consumer needs and behaviors

Competitive and market dynamics

Future growth potential

Each pathway represents a strategic opportunity that a brand can act on.

9. How does NIQ Growth Pathways identify growth opportunities?

NIQ Growth Pathways identifies growth opportunities by combining:

Retail and sales performance data

Consumer research (qualitative and quantitative)

AI-driven insight generation

Advanced analytics

This creates a holistic view of where demand exists and where it can be expanded.

10. How does NIQ Growth Pathways help brands grow beyond their category?

NIQ Growth Pathways analyzes the full set of consumer choices, not just those within a single category. This helps brands discover adjacent markets, new use cases, and emerging white spaces where they have the right to compete and grow.

11. What are the key benefits of NIQ Growth Pathways?

Key benefits include:

Identification of new and untapped growth opportunities

Faster, AI-powered insights

Clear prioritization of strategic investments

A structured, repeatable growth framework

Alignment between insights, strategy, and execution

12. How does NIQ Growth Pathways fit into NIQ's capabilities?

NIQ Growth Pathways is built on NIQ's global data, AI, and analytics platform, including:

Retail measurement and consumer panel data

AI modeling and advanced analytics

Global coverage across 90+ countries

Insights across $7.4 trillion in consumer spend

13. When was NIQ Growth Pathways launched?

NIQ Growth Pathways was announced on April 9, 2026, as part of NIQ's continued investment in AI-enabled, client-first innovation.

14. How can companies access NIQ Growth Pathways?

Companies can access NIQ Growth Pathways by contacting NIQ or requesting a demo through .

About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.

With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world's population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full ViewTM-helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.

For more information, please visit.

Forward Looking Statement:
This press release on NIQ Growth Pathways may contain forward looking statements regarding anticipated consumer behaviors, market trends, and industry developments. These statements reflect current expectations and projections based on available data, historical patterns, and various assumptions. Words such as“expects,”“anticipates,”“projects,”“believes,”“forecasts,”“plan,”“look ahead,”“indicates”, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future outcomes and are subject to inherent uncertainties, including changes in consumer preferences, economic conditions, technological advancements, and competitive dynamics. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. While we strive to base our insights on reliable data and sound methodologies, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except to the extent required by applicable law.

© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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